Until Dawn: Rush of Blood PS VR Review Round Up
By Curt Hutson 07 October 2016
Just in time for the Halloween season, Supermassive Games’ PlayStation VR horror title Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood releases next week with some decent reviews.
The reviews are in for Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and they’re pretty modest; good, but not excellent. This could be tied to the fact that, unlike the main game by the same developer, the title is relatively short. It shares this trait with another PlayStation VR title launching the same week Batman: Arkham VR, which was reported on days ago at capping out at around an hour. The games also share price tags that reflect that length, however, both selling at a reasonable $20.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is an on-rails shooter in the vein of arcade shooters like House of the Dead that guides players through various creepy environments, tasking them with shooting creepy things and scoring points. There are many secrets to uncover, such as hidden objects that reward additional points or alternate routes, which adds a bit more replayability. According to VG247, the game will feature some locations recognizable by those who played the original game, and the story involves a character from the original game as well.
Here’s what critics around the web are saying about Until Dawn: Rush of Blood:
Gamespot (Peter Brown)
Rush of Blood can be completed in roughly an hour and a half, and though you can unlock a few alternate paths in a couple of levels, they generally lead to more of the same–just in a different arrangement. Rush of Blood has a disturbing flavor overall, but that alone can’t save what amounts to a largely predictable experience filled with straightforward action, dumb enemies, and predictable frights.
Score: 5/10
Destructoid (Chris Carter)
Several other VR games are content with presenting themselves as tech demos you won’t play again, but Rush of Blood embraces its arcade nature with score-attack challenges, collectibles, and secrets. It was like playing Revolution X all over again (please remake this, somebody), and with seven levels and four difficulty settings, I’ll be mastering this one for a long while.
Score: 7.5/10
GamesRadar+ (Louise Blain)
…Rush Of Blood is an essential day-one purchase for VR. Few theme park rides can compete with exactly how this makes you feel if you’re playing in a room with an open window and an occasional breeze. Of course you know the jumps are coming, of course it’s only a game – recite it Evil Dead-style and it still doesn’t help – but this is VR horror at its finest. This will be what you wheel out to show friends and film their reactions as you grab them at the same time as a jump scare. The latter might also be what causes a PS VR related heart attack. I jumped, I cursed, I didn’t want to look around the corner. And that’s exactly why you should play. Enjoy.
Score: 4/5
IGN (Chloi Rad)
Even as a mere horror-flavored rail shooter lacking in any serious scares, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood isn’t terrible. Responsive, arcade-style shooting, the frequency of collectibles, optional side passages that add some sense of exploration to the linear rollercoaster, and an end-of-level letter grade system offer plenty of casual replayability. Coupled with its smooth, motion-based controls, and barring some of its weaker stages, Rush of Blood actually makes for a decently fun ride.
Score: 6/10
Game Informer (Kyle Hilliard)
Rush of Blood is straightforward in its execution. It’s a simple action game that feels like an evolution of the light-gun shooter, but in this early age of virtual reality, it’s the right call. Pointing and shooting at scary things on a fun-house roller-coaster might not seem like the right direction for Until Dawn’s character-focused storytelling, but for PlayStation VR, it’s one of the best ways to get your feet wet, even if it doesn’t do anything bold or particularly innovative in the world of game design.
Score: 7/10
Digital Spy (Sam Loveridge)
If Supermassive could have laid off the stupid boss mechanics, this would have been a perfect VR horror game. It skilfully walks the line of tense, psychological horror and creepy, boo-scares for an experience that you won’t forget for a while – in fact, we’ve dreamt about it. Damn those spiders.
Like Batman Arkham VR, we wish it was longer, but there’s plenty to come back for here and it’s one of the most affordable PS VR games out there at launch.
Score: 4/5
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is one of a small collection of PlayStation VR games releasing next week alongside the device itself, which includes Batman: Arkham VR, Job Simulator, and Rollercoaster Dreams, to name a few. While it is not the first device to bring VR to homes, the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift launched earlier this year for PC, PlayStation VR will allow PlayStation 4 to be the first console to play virtual reality games.
Because VR is so immersive and intimate, it is ripe for horror, and several titles in this genre are being developed that capitalize on this isolating experience. The one with the most to prove by far is Resident Evil 7, which is coincidentally releasing a demo on the day of the headset’s launch on October 13. Nevertheless, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood will be the first horror title released for PlayStation VR, so it’s feeling its own fair share of pressure as well. Despite this, however, its reception was nowhere near a bloodbath; instead, it survived, garnering some decent reviews.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a PlayStation VR exclusive that launches on the same day at the device on October 13.
Source: VG24/7
